Good appearance of food gives an appetizing impression and increases cerebral blood flow of frontal pole in healthy subjects.

We investigated the effect of food appearance on appetite and on left-frontal pole blood flow in healthy young subjects. The iEat, a new form of foods with good appearance and greater softness was hypothesized to have the better effects to the subjects than blender-processed foods. The effect on appetite and left-frontal pole blood flow using hemoencephalography was assessed while participants were viewing the slideshows of two kinds of foods respectively. The slideshows were used to control the showing time and other variables. The pictures of iEat foods stimulated both of them more than the blender-processed ones. The measurement of cerebral blood flow could be a useful method to monitor the cognitive and emotional aspects of feeding behavior that are important for humans. Like iEat, the foods that look as good as ordinary food yet are softer can be used for people with poor appetite and eating difficulties to ordinary food.

Intelligence quotient and cognitive functions in severe restricting-type anorexia nervosa before and after weight gain.

OBJECTIVE: Restricting-type anorexia nervosa (AN-R), characterized by severe emaciation with long-term food restriction, is often difficult to treat. The present study investigated the overall intelligence quotient (IQ) scores and cognitive functions of patients with AN-R. METHODS: Fourteen female inpatients with AN-R (body mass index 12.84 ± 0.41 kg/m²) and 10 healthy female participants participated in this study from 2007 through 2010. The Wechsler Adult Intelligence Scale, Third Edition and the Eating Disorder Inventory-II were administered. This research was performed at Kagoshima University Hospital. RESULTS: In the AN-R group, overall IQ scores showed borderline intelligence (e.g., full-scale IQ 75.86 ± 1.79, P < 0.01); the scores were significantly lower than those in the comparison group. There were negative correlations between lower IQs and higher Eating Disorder Inventory-II scores. After the weight restoration, the IQ scores of subjects with AN-R with regard to the visuospatial scales were significantly higher than before (P < 0.01); however, the auditory cognitive scores were unchanged. CONCLUSION: These lower IQ scores could be connected to the psychological and behavioral traits in patients with AN-R. These problems should be considered by medical staff members who seek to treat patients with AN-R successfully.